


The Old Man

by Madth333



Series: A Legendary Story: The First of Its Kind, One Shots- A Day in the Life of... [9]
Category: A Legendary Story: The First of Its Kind
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Gen, Misunderstandings, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Series, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-18 06:49:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21590290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madth333/pseuds/Madth333
Summary: The first (published) in the "A Day in the Life of" series, "The Old Man" chronicles the day in the life of a Gotham City Post Office delivery worker- as he makes a very special delivery...Directly Ties To:A Legendary Story: The First of Its Kind, Part 2: The In-between, Chapter 16: Unsuccessfully, I must addhttps://archiveofourown.org/works/21374662/chapters/50916346
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: A Legendary Story: The First of Its Kind, One Shots- A Day in the Life of... [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1556014
Comments: 8
Kudos: 4





	The Old Man

An elderly man exits his vehicle, and beings his daunting walk through the parking lot. The walk was only, maybe thirty yards, but the heat from the late August Sol was sweltering. The old man's bald head was already dotted with large beads of sweet, and his overly unkempt eyebrows were draining sweet- similar to rain gutters during a torrential storm.

The old man slowly shuffled his feet across the pavement of the parking lot; inching his way closer to the Gotham City Post Office. Just when the man started to doubt that he could finish this treacherous journey, he shuffled the end of his foot right into the curb at the end of the lot. He had made it! A cool blast of AC awaited just inside the front doors…

The old man clutch the door handles with the last of his might. He tugged, and pulled, until finally the door opened…

"Thank, Eru!" the old man muttered. His voice barely rising above a whisper.

The old man showed his badge to a security guard, who then allowed the old man back into a staging area. Behind the door to the staging area there were thousands upon thousands of letters. They were being conveyered, sorted, and transported all across the staging room floor. At the end of every pathway the letters were traveling along, there were big signs marking designated delivery routes.

The old man walked over to the sign reading "317"...

"Morning, old-timer!" a co-worker greeted, "Today's going to be a hot one! Make sure you stay out of Sol's sight, and inside of that delivery vehicle!"

The two shared a laugh, and then the old man made his way out to his vehicles. As a warehouse hand finished loading the old man's vehicle, the old man reviewed his manifest for the day…

"Well this can't be right?" the old man said to himself.

His manifest only had one delivery listed for the day…

"Hey! Hey, Jack!" the old man called out to the warehouse supervisor, "This can't be right? It's got me going overnight to Illinois!? What's this all about?"

"Not my call!" Jack yelled over the sounds of delivery vehicle's engine running, "Was a mandate from above my pay grade!"

Unhappy, but not one to push back; the old man huffed and grumbled, and then begrudgingly started up his vehicle. What would he accomplish by arguing it anyways? Plus it was just a round trip- what's the worst that could happen?

"What's in the box?" the old man asked the warehouse hand before pulling out of the lot. 

"Not sure! All I know is they said, 'DO NOT DROP IT!'. Drive safe!"

A few more sighs of displeasure, and the old man was off on his journey…

After spending the night in Indiana, the old man had finally started to approach his destination the next morning…

"What in Arda is this?" the old man forced his voice to question, "Some abandoned hospital, or something?"

As the old man pulled into the lot of the abandoned-looking hospital, he unknowingly drove through a sensor; triggering a silent alarm. Within seconds, an all black, armored-looking vehicle was on the delivery vehicle's tail!

The old man gasped louder than any other noise he had made throughout this trip! He about keeled over in his seat…

But he kept control of the vehicle, and slowly pulled over to a stop.

The all black vehicle stopped behind the old man, and two armed guards approached from both sides,

"This is private property!" one of the guards started to say, as he was still approaching the vehicle. 

The old man grabbed his manifest, which was on a clipboard, and a pen. He quickly turned towards the door, and brandished both items out of the window...

"I've got a-"

"He's got something!" the second guard shouted from the passenger-side of the delivery vehicle. 

The drivers-side guard quickly grabbed the old man's wrists, and then threw open the door! The old man tumbled out of the vehicle as the door swung open. 

"Now what's the meaning of all this!" the old man protested, "I've got paperwork!'

Realizing that this old man was in fact, only holding a clipboard and pen; the security guards promptly apologized, and helped the old man back to his feet. They then offered to escort the old man to the proper dock for delivery.

At that dock, the old man checked in with another security guard...

As this security guard reviewed the old man's manifest, he began to chuckle, "Ah, here's where the mix-up was… you're two hours late!"

"Slow and steady," the old man feigned a chuckle, "In all my years, I've still not been in a wreck, thank you."

"That's great, and all," the security guard continued to laugh, "But now you're going to have to unload the package yourself. The dock crew's just left for the morning… They only work third shift."

By now, the old man was steaming mad, but what was he going to do?

He shuffled his way back to his vehicle.. 

The old man removed the seal, from the back door of his vehicle, and opened the back hatch. There it was- the lonely box. The old man slid the package to the end of the vehicle, and braced himself for the coming lift.

With both arms wrapped tightly around the package, the old man took a deep breath. He pulled the box closer, and began to flex his knees…

"Grr-uhh!" the old man moaned, as he lifted the box up off the bed of the vehicle. 

The old man turned his upper body to clear the box from the vehicle… He then went to lower the box down to the ground, but his momentum from the turn had caused the old man to lose his footing!

"DO NOT DROP IT!" was all the old man could think.

To the old man, the next few split seconds felt like an eternity…

He couldn't drop the package! He had just boasted, to the security guard, about never having had an accident! It was then, the old man summoned a strength from within- that even he hadn't known to exist!

The old man, somehow, was able to drop down, and catch the box; just before it was set to slam into the concrete below!

"Nice catch, old man!" an approaching voice cheered, "Could have been disastrous if you'd have dropped that! My name's Dr. Jones. I believe that package is for me?"

The old man was out of any strength to muster some sort of witty reply. He simply just had Dr. Jones sign off on the last of his delivery receipts. Once the paperwork was finished, the old man closed up his vehicle, and got back into the driver's seat.

"I still don't know why they had me come all the way out here for this?" the old man complained, "Dr. Jones? I'm sure. Sounds like a fake name... And at an abandoned hospital? I'm getting too old for this…"

The old man then returned back to Gotham City, just as Sol had begun to set. He parked his vehicle, and he offered a friendly, "Good night", to those still working. Pushing open the front doors, the old man looked out across the parking lot…

"After all' that," the old man said to himself, "I'm going to Josie's."


End file.
